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He drely out of the roo the door noiselessly behind him He found that the front door was as Kedsty had left it, unlocked

Close to that door he stood for a space, scarcely allowing himself to breathe He listened, but no sound ca was pressing upon hiedy, over the first-roused instincts of thehim with the realization of a horror such as had never confronted hi of Kedsty His thought was of Marette, of the fate which dawn and discovery would bring for her His hands clenched and his jaws tightened The world was against hiainst her Only he, in the face of all that condeuilty of Kedsty's death And he, Jim Kent, was already a murderer in the eyes of the law

He felt within hi o he was an outcast He was condemned Life, for hirih storm that had rocked the earth under her feet and set ablaze the chaotic blackness of the sky over her head she had struggled--for him She had counted no cost She had measured no chances She had simply come--BECAUSE SHE BELIEVED IN HIM And now, upstairs, she was the victim of the terrible price that was the first cost of his freedoht caer stroke, that this was so Her act in freeing hiht about the final climax, and as a result of it, Kedsty was dead

He went to the foot of the stair Quietly, in his shoeless feet, he began to climb them He wanted to cry out Marette's name even before he came to the top He wanted to reach up to her with his arms outstretched But he came silently to her door and looked in

She lay in a crumpled, huddled heap on her bed Her face was hidden, and all about her lay her shtened He could not see that she was breathing So still was she that she was like one dead

His footsteps were unheard as he moved across the rooathered her into them